People in Glasgow share the same concerns as any other part of the country – tackling crime, creating jobs and helping families through tough times – but one persistent issue unique to the city is continuing anger at the SNP government ripping off Glasgow.
This made a huge impact when Labour's William Bain was elected Glasgow North East MP in last November’s by-election with a massive 8,111 majority and remained a key issue during the recent General Election for voters in Glasgow.
Despite receiving a record amount of money from Westminster this year from the former Labour government - over £600million more than the previous year’s Scottish budget - the SNP government gave Glasgow a raw deal and there are fears that worse is planned for coming years.
It’s not for lack of trying. While a strong Labour Council, Glasgow has never played petty politics with SNP ministers. We’ve been fair and successful in fighting our corner, securing vital investment to complete the M74 motorway - boosting jobs in Glasgow’s southside and east end - and develop the Cart flood prevention scheme, protecting homes across the south of our city.
That soured over the past year, as SNP ministers:
- Scrapped the Glasgow Airport Rail Link with the loss of 1,000 new jobs, a decision that saw the city’s Evening Times headline scream “BETRAYED” with First Minister Alex Salmond the man “who put a knife into the city”;
- Slashed £260million from housing and regeneration across Scotland, with our city the hardest hit, putting on hold plans for quality affordable housing;
- Declined to give a penny to museums in Glasgow - where Kelvingrove and the Burrell are among Britain’s busiest attractions - yet handed £40million to Scotland’s “national” museums in Edinburgh;
- Restricted funding for every mile of maintaining the busiest streets in Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city, to effectively the same formula as any mile on the quietest rural road;
- Refused three Town Centre bids to support Glasgow jobs and businesses in Possil, Parkhead and Shawlands - the latter shamefully in Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s own constituency;
- Excluded Glasgow from the first phase of the SNP’s new school building programme, shunning the city as all our secondaries were rebuilt or refurbished ten years ago.
After the North East by-election defeat, SNP ministers hastily awarded Glasgow funding for three new primary schools despite stating only one was on offer, but it’s far from generous. Labour ministers previously funded 80% of new builds while councils found the remaining 20%, but the SNP will only match councils 50/50 for new primaries.
When the 2010/11 settlement for councils was announced by SNP ministers, Glasgow had the lowest increase at 1.47% against a Scottish average of 2.77% – leaving the city shortchanged by £20million compared to that average – despite many councils faring much better with sparse explanation.The SNP now say Glasgow’s extra primary school funding was based on “need”. Labour councillors know what that really means, focusing resources in our communities where it’s needed most. We’ll always argue for that. Not just in Glasgow, but in every council across Scotland.
